Mechanics/Content
Blood Sympathy: Vampires related by blood can feel one another at their most important moments. Impressions come as cryptic hallucinations and symbolism, rarely with any clarity. Strong sensations and emotions, including frenzies, exaltation, and overwhelming shame, transmit through mystical bonds. Final Death and torpor automatically trigger Blood Sympathy. The effects depend on how many steps removed the two characters are: * Deliberate Sympathy: A vampire can consciously trigger blood sympathy on relatives separated by 1 or 2 steps. ** Spend a Willpower point and make a Generation roll (difficulty 7). ** Each success contact with a single target. The targeted relative must still roll to detect sympathy. * Detect Sympathy: Most detection rolls are reflexive. A vampire can attempt to detect a relative (if within range) by spending a point of Willpower and making a roll. **Roll Wits + Generation + Blood Sympathy modifier vs difficulty 7. Detection rolls cannot botch. **Success: You get a vague impression of the target's mental state and general direction. You know if she entered torpor or Final Death, but not which. **'5'+ successes: You know the target's mental state, direction, and rough distance from you. You know if she entered torpor or Final Death. You can send a single, short sentence to the target. Bloodlines: A bloodline is a distinct lineage descended from one of the Thirteen clans of Caine. It deviates from its parent clan in several ways. The mystical augmentations of their blood are expressed through unique powers, sorceries or blood weaknesses. All bloodlines gain an additional Discipline considered in-clan, and they do not necessarily reflect their parent clan's powers. These signature gifts cannot be learned by outsiders, even by diablerie. In addition, all bloodlines inherit a secondary weaknesses along with their parent clan's inherent frailty. Cainites in a bloodline share special familial bonds that can be traced back to their founder. Bloodlines occur through bizarre confluences and esoteric rituals, as Methuselahs and ancients delve into the unholy mysteries of Caine's curse. Affinities of the Thirteen great clans may be expressed in sharp relief among strains of a bloodline, such as Lasombra touched by proximity to the Abyss or disease-carriers among the Nosferatu. See the list of approved bloodlines and samples. * Awakening: A Cainite of Generation 2 or higher can join her Sire's bloodline (if any). She spends 1 Willpower and performs the "lineage rites" to awaken the mystic properties shared during the Embrace. * Anointing: A Cainite of Generation 4 or higher can be anointed into another bloodline of her parent clan. She must consume 2+ points of blood from a member of that bloodline, which may subject her to blood bonds. She must also be taught the mystical "anointing rites" to force her blood to adapt the mystic properties shared during the Embrace. * Creation: A Cainite of Generation 6 or higher can start her own bloodline. It costs 1 Willpower and an extended period to warp her blood. Blush of Health: * Any vampire can spend 1 blood point to invoke the blush of life for a scene. He appears functionally human: warm to the touch, breathing, heart beating, and producing natural body fluids. He can keep food and drink down, vomiting at the end of the evening. * This supercedes rules in V20, p. 269. Embrace: * Accidental Embraces are possible. A mortal with at least 1 dot of Vitae in her system at time of her death may become a Cainite. * Roll the Regnant's Generation (DC 6). On a success, the mortal rises in 7 - successes nights. * Example: Aula Iunia feeds from Manius Rufius, a Toreador with Generation 3. She is killed by a beggar several days later. The storyteller rolls 3 dice and scores 2 successes. Aula will rise in five nights, and woe to her first victim. * Rumours hold that monstrous clanless with blood too weak to express a clan may be produced this way. Generation This Trait represents the purity of your blood, the strength of the unbridled power and divine curse passed down to you. Generation conveys status among vampires and reflects mystical -- though not actual -- proximity to Caine, the first vampire. A vampire with a low Generation lacks the experience or understanding of how to master their vitae's properties, or may be too young to truly tap into his potential. A high Generation rating may represent a committed effort to embrace your vampiric nature or a decidedly dangerous taste for diablerie. All vampires begin with one dot of Generation. * Feeding: A vampire's refined power of the blood restricts what nourishes and replenishes the blood pool. ** Generation 3: Animals no longer nourish you. ** Generation 6: Humans no longer nourish you. ** When feeding from a target under your Generation restriction, you must spend a point of Willpower for every Blood Point consumed. * XP Costs: ** 4 freebies per dot (in CharGen) ** Current rating x 8. * Improving Generation: Generation can only be raised through two means: diablerie and experience. Heretical Kindred scholars whisper the vitae of Antediluvian obtains its rarefied potency through time, the burden of damnation strengthening the Beast. ** Your initial rating does not indicate your Sire's Generation. ** Diablerie is the act of consuming a vampire's blood and soul. You gain one to your Generation score when you diablerize a vampire with higher Generation rating than yours. ** Experience refines the mystical qualities of the blood, though often at the cost of empowering the Beast. You can improve your Generation in several ways. Exploring the vampiric condition, experimenting with vitae's qualities, embodying your clan's values and temperament, and advancing Humanity or Path are all valid methods. Experience is slower but infinitely less hazard-prone than Diablerie. * Powers: Many Merits or rare supernatural gifts attributed to Kindred have a minimum Generation threshold to manifest. You must meet the prerequisite Generation in order to purchase the Trait. *This supercedes the rules in V20, pp. 28, 114 and 270. Keen Senses: Kindred have unnaturally acute senses, particularly scent and hearing. * No penalties for dim conditions. -2 die penalty to vision rolls in full darkness. * Automatically see traces of blood. * Smell blood from 10 yards x Generation, multiplied by your Auspex dots. Repelled by Crosses: Kindred have no defense against Christian crosses. When confronted by one, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 9) or flee from the symbol for the duration of the scene. * Botch: You attempt to flee. The touch of the cross causes 1 health level of lethal damage per turn the cross touches your skin. The damage cannot be soaked.